Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader — 10 Best Operative Talents

Operatives are all about taking out key targets in a fight, whether they be enemy Psykers, Medics, or Commanders. That’s why we want to prioritize single-target damage with our Talents. Here are our 10 best Operative Talents in Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader.

Top 10 Best Operative Talents in Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader You Must Have for Your Build

Tide of Excellence

This Talent is the core of your kit. It will increase your damage and armor penetration for each exploit you trigger on an enemy. You’ll get +1 damage and +2% armor penetration for each stack. The best part is that it lasts until the end of combat and it stacks with itself. I highly recommend picking it up as it’s optimal in any situation since you’ll always be triggering Exploits.

Sharpshooter 

As an Operative, your two main characteristics besides Ballistic Skill are Perception and Intelligence. This Talent cements that, along with the fact that you want to stay as far away from enemies as you can. With that in mind, Sharpshooter grants you bonus Ballistic Skill and Damage against an enemy for every 5 cells between them and you.

The B.S. bonus increases based on your Perception bonus, while the damage increases based on your halved Intelligence bonus. I highly recommend using Sniper Rifles or Longlasses with this Talent and creating as much distance as you can between you and your enemies. Don’t worry about the range penalty as your 2AP shot doubles your range. Just remember: don’t move before shooting if you want to gain the benefits of this feat.

Passive Learning 

This Talent makes it so that instead of distributing only one Exploit stack on all enemies at the beginning of combat, you distribute the same amount as when using Analyse Enemy. It even works to a lesser degree in the second round. Passive Learning allows you to start combat strong either through great damage or really reducing an enemy’s defenses with Exploit Weakness, as you’ll have plenty of Exploit stacks to work with. 

Informed Hit 

I found that the Precise Attack ability works wonders in the mid-game for taking out bosses and key enemies from an incredible range. Furthermore, it also allows you to pick up strong Talents like Informed Hit.

With a great Intelligence score, this Talent allows you to guarantee a Sniper critical strike on an enemy that has (10 minus Int. bonus) stacks of Exploits. You’ll be building Intelligence up anyway, and you can even score this Talent bonus in round 1 at Intelligence 50. It also works quite well with Passive Learning.

Ballistic Calculation 

This is a no-brainer pick-up for Sniper or Longlass Operatives in Rogue Trader. If you’re attacking an enemy (15 mins Per. bonus) cells away, you get a %15 damage increase similar to Fresh Target. However, it’s much more reliable. Your Perception score should be decent, and even if it isn’t, the long range of Sniper Rifles will guarantee this Talent triggers. 

Insightful Precision 

This is another great Precise Attack Talent that shows why taking P.A. is so useful. It will give you a Perception bonus that both increases your chances to hit but also fuels your other Perception-dependent Talents like Sharpshooter or Ballistic Calculation.

Joint Offense 

Joint Offense shares the damage bonuses of your Exploits with your allies in the form of hit chance and crit chance. They’ll gain a decent amount of critical hit chance based on your Intelligence bonus when attacking Exploited targets. If your Rogue Trader is an Operative and you have an Idira or Yrliet in your team, this feat will beautifully synergize with all the Exploit stacks going around.

Instant Exposure

Expose Weakness works great on bosses to slowly reduce their defenses throughout the fight at the cost of Exploits. While I haven’t used it that much in the early game, it becomes crucial in the mid to late game. That’s why Instant Exposure’s cost reduction is important as it greatly improves your Action Point Economy.

Weak Body Weak Soul 

As we just mentioned, Expose Weakness is excellent in the mid to late game for powerful bosses with tons of HP and defenses. This Talent will further weaken them by reducing their Toughness-based and Willpower-based resistances. Capitalize on this with crucial Psyker powers; the debuff only lasts for one round.

Fresh Target

Lastly, we have Fresh Target, which grants a decent 15% damage increase. This Talent is only ever useful when dropping that round one guaranteed critical strike with Precise Attack and Informed Hit at Intelligence 50 we previously described. Also, it can help a little bit when taking out mobs.

Those are the Top 10 best Operative Talents in Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader. Remember to use single-shot long-range weapons like Sniper Rifles or Longlasses to get the most out of these Talents. For more guides like the best way to level up fast or our custom party guide, check out our WH40K Rogue Trader game hub.